Monday, September 30, 2013

Peter Bailey Painter

I purchased a couple of Painting in 1993 by Romney Marsh Painter Peter Bailey 3ft by 2ft 6ins
They show a farm and hop fileds just after WW2 around the early 1950's. He painted in three of my pets a Jack Russel called Jack (what a surprise) a labrador cross whippet called Patch and a cat called Tootsie. Try and find them, what would like to now is this a painter of any significance I paid £500 for each painting very expensive at the time but I have enjoyed them.



Climate Change


Unlike a lot of people I do not believe Climate Change is just man made but I do think that the world is polluting itself so all though I do not believe, I think the debate has improved the environment. Yet with India and China pouring out some many pollutants our efforts are futile. Also what I hate about the climate change is that it is an excuse to tax us by the green taxes this government and others have brought in, plus we have to put up with those ugly inefficient Wind Turbines. Also everyone rambles on about the danger of CO2 admission well if we cut back too much our plants will die, then we will have a disaster.

Plants need Co2 to prepare its carbohydrate food through photosynthesis. The chloroplasts containing chlorophyll pigment in the leaves by using energy obtained from solar radiation , water and minerals obtained from soil will reduce Co2 obtained from atmosphere to carbohydrate food. This food only the plant use for its growth, for producing its flowers, to derive energy for its various activities

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Open Letter to Gordon Henderson on BBC Bias


Open Letter to Gordon Henderson MP

Dear Gordon
I wish to make the strongest of complaints about a recent episode of BBC File on Four; I have included the preamble from the Radio 4 web site. This was a typical one-side item from the BBC what could have been an interesting and informative debate on the subject, turned out to be a propaganda programme for the interviewers political view. When approaching subject like the one below it is the BBC job to remain totally neutral considering the taxpayer pays them for. Let me give an example a Solicitor for a Moslem who is Guantanamo Bay Prison who claims he is innocent stated in a lengthy interview that US Troops tortured her client in a horrific manner and British Government agents witnessed this. The Interviewer at no time did she question the accuracy of this account. I for one would have the question did anyone witness this? Were there any photographs? Were there any video recordings? The simple fact is that this man and his solicitor are making the accusation; it is in their interest to make accusations like this. Now I do not whether it is true or not but the point is this Solicitor has gained a lot of free publicity, knowing full well the government agency can not come forward to answer these spurious remarks. Another incident was a man said that his telephone had been bugged and British Intelligence was using his information. He complained to the IPS and was asked what proof he had of this, his answer was NONE, so how can he complain just because he imagined somebody was listening to him. He should have gone a Physiatrist rather then the IPS but why did the BBC allow him to make such accusation?
I had hoped to listen to an interesting debate all I heard once again the BBC supporting the breakdown of our intelligence service

I have forwarded this a complaint to the BBC but doubt if I will get any response


FILE ON FOUR
Secrecy and Surveillance
AVAILABILITY:
7 DAYS LEFT TO LISTEN

Duration: 38 minutes
First broadcast: Tuesday 24 September 2013
Recent revelations about secret mass surveillance programmes have raised fears about potential abuses of individual privacy in favour of national security.
With requests to intercept personal communications data on the rise, just who is collecting the information and for what purpose?
Even local authorities can now use surveillance powers to track employees and monitor the activities of residents.
So what rights do people have when they feel they have been unfairly targeted?
Jenny Chryss examines the role of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal - the little known body that considers complaints from those who've been under surveillance by the state.
Critics talk of an "Orwellian system" in which cases are shrouded in too much secrecy. The Tribunal usually sits in private, with claimants barred from hearing evidence and with little detailed explanation of its decisions.
So where should the balance lie between openness and effective oversight?

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Holy Trinity Milton Regis

Holy Trinity Church Milton Regis

i took my two youngest grandchildren Poppy and George to to relatively new Milton country Park http://www.miltoncountrypark.org I say Val was in charge. While there i popped into the Church which is next to the park a church where my oldest grand daughter was baptised she is now 15 years old and taller then all the women in my family. Again a lovely old church, met the new vicar had a good chat about the history.








Origins
This Church is one of the three oldest in Kent, having been founded within a few years of the coming of St. Augustine in 597. 
The records of Ely mention that ‘Queen Sexburga, Abbess of Minster in Sheppey, left her life at the Doors of Mylton Church’ in 680. 

St. Sexbergha, dowager Queen of Kent, was first Abbess of Minster-in-Sheppey (and now co-patroness of the Abbey Church there), second Abbess (after her sister Etheldreda) of Ely. The porch and doors would have stood where the tower now is, with a small room above it, reached by rope ladder, for the priest. The door high on the west wall, which now looks out from the ringing chamber, enabled him to keep an eye on the church.





The original dedication is unknown - the name Holy Trinity could not predate the founding of Trinity Sunday by Pope Gregory IV in 828. 

In 1052 Earl Godwin, father of King Harold of Battle of Hastings fame, sacked the Royal Town of Milton during his revolt against Edward the Confessor and badly damaged the Church. Upon its repair the church walls were heightened and a chancel and south transept added. 

The present name of the church may well have been given at the re-dedication of the restored building, probably by Archbishop Lanfranc after the Norman Conquest. The same archbishop made the church the centre of an extensive Deanery in 1070. 
Exterior and grounds



The original building extended from the present chancel arch to the Tower arch and from the north wall, much of which is original, the width of the present nave.

It sits on traditionally religious ground. The large stone outside the front porch is said to be a pagan alter-stone. A Roman villa also stood near the site. The original church includes in its walls a high proportion of roman tiles from the villa ruins. 

The Porch



The Porch has a fine old chessboard pattern gate <presently removed and stored inside the church> and an oak kingpost roof, both original (c.1450). On the right of the Church door is a Consecration cross (another is on the West door entrance). 

The South Aisle



On the right after entering the church is a holy water stoop. 

Further east on the same wall is the entrance to a rood loft, its door partly destroyed by a modern window. High on the wall is the rood doorway, with the other end of the Rood Arch opposite. 

A rood loft was a raised platform with a rood (crucifix) in the middle - where the gospel was read for greater ease of hearing in days before amplifier systems.









Below the door is a small window (often found in the south wall of a church) from which a bell was rung at the Sanctus and Consecration so that those working in the fields might pause for prayer at the focal points of the Mass within.



Further east is a priest’s door providing direct access to the chancel. 

The organ was made by Bevington & Sons, one of the leading firms of the period, in about 1870. Its brilliant tone is reminiscent of an 18th rather than 19th century instrument. 

The organ is now in retirement, due partly to maintenance costs, being replaced by an electric organ.




The Norwood Chapel



The Norwood Chapel was originally built in the early 1400s as a Chantry chapel for the de Northwode family (where requiem masses were said for the souls of deceased Norwoods). Its dedication, if any, is unknown. 

It was restored by the Mothers’ Union in 1940 with a steeper pitch to the roof (the old beam supports may be seen on the wall). The incorrect main window was put in during the mid 19th century to replace one blown out in a gale.

The alter rails, once thought to be Queen Anne, have recently been identified by an expert as Tudor. The light on the north wall of this sanctuary is over the aumbry where the sacrament of Holy Communion is reserved for the Sick. 

 There is a good Decorated sedilia with Purbeck marble shafts.  The sedilia left arch contains fragments of a brass to Thomas Ayleff <now unfortunately missing> and his wife Margaret Ayleff, owners of Coleshall in the early 1500s; in the right arch now hangs an oak board set with brasses (original site unknown) to Sir John and Lady Norwood (c.1496) with their coat-of-arms. 


On the wall tomb between the chapel and the main church is the brass of an unknown knight of the Norwood household (c.1480). The armorial bearings were pilfered in the 18th century so it is impossible to identify him. 


High on the north wall of the chapel is the support which formerly held the gauntlets and jousting helm of Sir John Norton, High Sheriff of Kent and brother-in-law of Sir John Norwood. The gauntlets have long since perished however the Norwood Helm is now in the Armouries of the Tower of London on extended loan from the parish. The altar tomb beneath is that of Sir John Norton. 

(Details of the Norwood and Norton families are on a plaque on the south wall outside the sanctuary.) 
The Chancel
The East window is a recent addition, being a memorial to a parishioner killed in the South African War (1899-1901). 

The face of the knight in armour is said to be that of the man commemorated and the dog in the lower right section is the man's pet dog which is said to have followed him everywhere. Its description on the north wall is worth reading. 

There is a piscina in the south wall of the sanctuary. 






The door outside the Communion rail leads to a vestry and room above it which was once an anchorite’s chapel and cell (an anchorite was a priest who lived in the room - the 'cell' - above)

A licence from Henry III authorising the parish to maintain an anchorite, dated 1255, is in the library of Merton College, Oxford. The piscina and mural paintings in the vestry date from his occupation, though the altar step reflects renewed use of the room as a chapel in the 19th century. 

The anchorite would have been walled up into his cell, living in the upper room then reached by a rope ladder and preaching through the large window there to people below, on whom he relied for gifts of food on which to survive. The existing doorway into the church would at that time have been walled in.  
The Jacobean Vicar’s Stall in choir (and possibly the two high-backed chairs in the Norwood sanctuary) were probably made from the wood of a former rood screen.

The Nave is much modernised with large Perpendicular style windows. The small blocked window near the Pulpit held the Easter Sepulchre in which the Reserved Sacrament was placed between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Perhaps there was a side altar where the pulpit now stands and the Sepulchre was within its sanctuary. 








There is also a Devil’s Door in the north wall. A portion of plaster has been removed from the wall (opposite the Porch door) to reveal the Roman brick in herring-bone pattern of the original early 7th century church. 
The Tower



The Tower is the largest in Kent and third largest in England in girth (25’ square internally at the level of the Ringing Chamber with 4’ thick walls). It is 78' high - nothing unusual but the highest in the area and an Ordnance Survey Reference point.

The tower was built between 1310 and 1330. <The porch and south-west section of the church are from about the same date. The porch door, the chequerboard gate now at the back of the church and most of the woodwork in the ceiling of both nave and chancel (apart from a few obviously machine cut beams) belong to this period.>

There are six bells, five of 1682 and one of 1934. 

The Font



The 14th century font formerly stood on a dais at the west end of the Church. 

RAPE-MARRIAGE


RAPE

To me there is nothing worse then rape, I can not watch any scene on TV with a rape scene this along with the abuse of young children and homosexuals fondling each other is when I reach for the remote and switch channels. I realise some stories have to portray these acts but I wonder if sometimes it is for the benefit of the story or for the gratification on the audience.
Why have I brought this subject up well it refers to the article below, this man has been arrested for something he supposed to have done over 40 years ago. I do not know whether he raped this girl or not but how can they prove anything? Surely the only way to prove it was to have the girl complain at the time where she could be examined or if there was a witness to the rape, DNA would confirm they had sex not rape. If this man had done the deed he should be punished but what if he is entirely innocent his name would be smeared forever. Why has the accusation taken so long to made? Since Jimmy Saville several high profile cases have gone to court and on several occasion they men have been proven innocent and one of the accused is suing his accuser who fabricated the story. So is the various cases a way to seek the truth and enforce justice or is it a witch-hunt?

Top Tory official, 75, appointed by David Cameron arrested over claims he assaulted a teenage girl more than 40 years ago
    Businessman Alan Lewis arrested after woman claims he raped her in 1960s
    75-year-old was appointed vice-chairman of the Conservatives by Cameron




MARRIAGE ALLOWANCE

At long last the Government has recognised marriage in the tax system but interesting enough they pushed through same sex marriage before they done it or was it done to appease the Governments Gay Mates. The amount is not a lot but it recognises marriage as an institution of course Labour and the LibDems think it is wrong they would prefer it that no one was  married and women had kids by multiple fathers who did not contribute in any way.  For decades the status of marriage has been ridiculed and the acceptance of immorality has been acceptable. Single parents has become the norm and the Labour party and the LibDems have encouraged this by funding these people. A couple living together outside of marriage refer to themselves as Partners, what nonsense. If you were a business and was in a partnership you would make a legal agreement, just living together is not a partnership. The only true partnership of people living together is marriage it is a formal arrangement where you actually sign an agreement in a civil service and a religious one.
Most importantly every survey proves that bringing up children in marriage is the most advantages for the children. On the radio this morning it was reported, by the time a child is 15 years old  50% of them would be in a broken home i.e their parents not living together. Yet out of the remaining 50% over 90% live with married parents. I could go on about how marriage is the bedrock of society

Cameron stands up for family values as he announces £1,000 tax break for every married couple
    Stay-at-home mothers and women who work part time will be main winners
    Husband or wife will be allowed to transfer £1,000 of their tax-free allowance to spouse
    Tax break will be enjoyed by gay couples in civil partnerships and in marriage





Friday, September 27, 2013

Harty Church

Harty Church Isle of Sheppey Kent

Val and myself decided to have a meal at the Harty Ferry Inn lovely Pub on the Swale looking over to Oare, well worth a visit. We never did get a meal as we only wanted a snack like a sandwich which they did not do, plus there was a group of noisy women and another group with screaming kids but we have been before and had a good meal. While there we decided to visit the local church. I have this obsession of photographing Churches it gives me a sense longevity and faith. We went on Friday it was a beautiful Autumn day, in the US they call it The Fall but did you realise that Fall and Autumn were originally used in England but when we English colonised the USA they took the word Fall with them, its name fell out of use in the Home Country. This was the most peaceful of places, if you get the chance visit it, you come away a lot calmer. Head towards Leysdown and you will see a sign to Harty Ferry.




It seems the last Viking Raid in England was at Milton Creek just a stone throw from Sittingbourne 

Author "Self" who is he? Somalia


I listened to Question Time last night and there was an author called Will Self, someone I had never heard of, he was absolute idiot, he suggested that the fight on terrorism was wrong and we should not pay for the fight against terrorism, he even said it was all an lie that plots have been discovered and stopped and because a politician did not agree with him he offered him outside! Self by name and Self by nature. We then had white women from the audience complain that the politicians keep mentioning that these were Muslim terrorist and we should not be so Islam phobic and stop mentioning the word Muslim, what an stupid women has she not realised in the past decades all the terrorists actions were committed by Muslims

Have a look at the article below, what we should now do is get Syrian Government into to talks and support them in a diplomatic way because remember a good percentage of the so called rebels are members of Alkihida who are connected with the atrocities in Kenya. Lets send troops into Somalia wipe out this scum restore a democratic government and get rid of all the Somalia’s living in this country and get rid of their tribal criminal ways


'Eyes gouged out, bodies hanging from hooks, and fingers removed with pliers': Horrific claims of torture emerge as soldiers reveal gory Kenyan mall massacre details
    Kenyan soldiers claim to find scenes of torture by mall terrorists
    They say children found dead in food fridges with knives still in bodies
    Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed